Where did the Niners go wrong? Key moments from yesterday's Super Bowl loss
Sac Bee's CHRIS BIDERMAN: "49ers linebacker Kwon Alexander bit on run action as Patrick Mahomes turned the other way and wound up getting Jaquiski Tartt in one-on-one coverage with Damien Williams as a pitch option, allowing Mahomes an easy score. It came after a successful fourth-and-1 direct snap to Damian Williams after Mahomes was thumped by Jimmie Ward at the end of a third-down run in which he fumbled backwards."
"Mahomes touchdown capped a 15-play, 75-yard drive following a three-and-out on the first series. It took 7:26 minutes of game time."
READ MORE related to Super Bowl Sunday: Fans dejected after going wild over Super Bowl throughout the Bay Area -- The Chronicle''s EVAN SERNOFFSKY/MEDGAN CASSIDY/KEVIN FAGAN/RACHEL SWAN; POTUS45 tweets congratulations to Chiefs and the state of Kansas -- Sac Bee's KATHY VETTER; For three quarters, it was the '9ers game to win -- The Chronicle's MICHAEL LERSETH
3 new coronavirus cases confirmed in Northern California
Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON/VINCENT MOLESKI: "Public health officials confirmed three new cases of coronavirus in Northern California – including an adult woman in Santa Clara County and a husband and wife in San Benito County – bringing the number of cases of the disease in the United States to 11. In California, according to the CDC, six people are now sickened by the virus."
"I understand that people are concerned, but based on what we know today, the risk to general public remains low,” said Sara Cody, the health officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. “A second case is not unexpected. With our large population and the amount of travel to China for both personal and business reasons, we will likely see more cases, including close contacts to our cases."
"The Santa Clara case involves a woman who came there Jan. 23 from the Wuhan area of China to visit her family, Cody said, and except to seek medical treatment, she has isolated herself at her family’s home. Wuhan is where the new coronavirus outbreak originated, and the vast majority of the cases have been diagnosed there and in the surrounding Hubei province."
READ MORE related to Coronavirus: Spreading rapidly, changing daily: an enigmatic public health threat -- The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY
Suburban sprawl wins again in the battle against California’s housing crisis
From the LAT's GEORGE SKELTON: "It’s fitting that major legislation to fight urban sprawl by forcing denser housing was killed by lawmakers from Los Angeles County, the nation’s sprawl capital."
"Particularly fitting is that a leader of the L.A. death squad represents the San Fernando Valley, the epitome of sprawl."
"He’s Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), a native Angeleno who helped whack a bill pushed by a lawmaker from San Francisco, arguably the state’s most densely populated city."
Fans gather at Staples Center for final day of memorials for Lakers legend Kobe Bryant
From the LAT's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "They came to share a moment together."
"Family. Friends. Fans."
"A week after Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, thousands once again swarmed the streets around Staples Center on Sunday to pay their respects to the legendary Laker."
Even after Oroville near-disaster, California dams remain potentially hazardous
The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE: "An audit of 650 California dams considered hazardous found that only a small fraction have completed emergency plans required after the Oroville Dam spillway collapsed three years ago and forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people."
"State Auditor Elaine Howle’s recent report says only 22 of the at-risk dams have finalized their plans, which are supposed to include inundation maps and specify what they would do “to minimize loss of life and property."
"Some 250 dam operators haven’t even bothered to submit plans, and there is a major backlog of plans awaiting approval, the report, Assessment of High-Risk Issues, concluded. The deadline for owners of “extremely high hazard” dams to submit emergency plans was Jan. 1, 2018. Owners of “high hazard” dams had until Jan. 1, 2019."
Trump admin's Medi-Cal rejection gives California a $1.2B budgetary hit
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The federal government notified Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration Friday that it is rejecting California’s Medicaid financing proposal, a decision that could cost the state $1.2 billion."
"The decision doesn’t affect this year’s budget, and Newsom’s administration plans to continue talks with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over changes to the proposal that might win federal approval, said Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer."
"Even though there’s a denial of our request from the feds in its current form, it doesn’t mean the door is closed on this issue,” Palmer said."
Fraud defendants Nuru and Bovis' ultimate goal may have involvedd a casino
The Chronicle's PHIL MATIER: "One of the biggest questions among City Hall insiders last week was why Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru would risk up to 20 years in jail, the loss of his reputation and — worse — his pension on a two-bit bribery scheme aimed at helping a friend open a chicken shack at SFO."
"The answer may be buried deep in the federal criminal complaint and involves rolling the dice on an even bigger play down the line."
"Here’s the story."
Something old, something new as Dems make final appeals to Iowa
LA Times's MARK Z BARABAK/JANET HOOK: "Democratic hopefuls raced Sunday from one Iowa campaign stop to the next, rallying supporters and making their final pleas to the still-undecided in a climactic finish to a presidential contest with no commanding front-runner and no obvious outcome."
"With the Super Bowl curtailing the usual election-eve appearances, candidates saturated the airwaves and social media and staged football-themed parties to squeeze in whatever politicking they could between plays."
"The caucuses, a series of more than 1,600 community gatherings, begin at 7 p.m. Central time Monday and their outcome will go a considerable way toward shaping the steeplechase of contests that follow, starting with next week’s New Hampshire primary. Iowa will effectively eliminate several candidates and boost others."
Biden receives 2020 support surge from former rival donors
Sac Bee's BEN WEIDER: "Joe Biden just posted the best fundraising numbers of his campaign — thanks in part to the big donors of his vanquished opponents."
"The former vice president raised nearly $1 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 from more than 950 contributors who had previously given to a Democratic presidential candidate who is no longer in the race, a McClatchy analysis of new campaign finance records found."
"Biden received the biggest boost from former financial backers of Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the race in early December. Nearly 400 donors to the California senator’s White House bid collectively poured in close to $400,000 to Biden’s campaign in the final three months of last year."
GrubHub to expand its restauraunt selection; consumers and workers will pay the price
The Chronicle's JANELLE BITKER/SHWANIKA NARAYAN: "AL’s Deli in the Mission offers delivery of its herby falafel sandwiches and smoked meat salads through the service Caviar, but something strange happened two weeks ago. Delivery drivers for a different service started arriving, demanding to know the status of their orders."
"The AL’s Deli staff had a question, too: What orders?"
"We don’t have order numbers, no data to track them down. We don’t know anything except some driver showing up,” said owner Aaron London. “When you have random companies sending in people blind, it shackles us."
GOP senators embrace rebuke, but not removal, of Trump
The Chronicle's EMILY COCHRANE: "Even as they are set to acquit President Trump in his impeachment trial this week, Senate Republicans appear to be increasingly breaking with his defense that he did nothing wrong."
"On Sunday, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who was a key vote against calling witnesses in the Senate trial, expanded upon his criticism that Trump was “crossing the line” in his pressure campaign against Ukraine. And Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who has remained a reliable defender of the president during his trial, called his actions “not what I would have done."
"A day before the first contest of the 2020 election, two days before Trump’s State of the Union address and three days before his expected acquittal, they and other Republicans appeared to be coalescing around a more nuanced argument: Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine into investigating a political rival while withholding critical military aid might not have been appropriate. But that did not warrant the president’s removal from office for the first time in American history."